The Service Solution

In my travels, I've noticed there are two very distinct
schools of thought with regard to the treatment of customers.
Salespeople today walk into presentations with one of the following
mind-sets: the I'm-here-to-sell-you mind-set or the
I'm-here-to-serve-you mind-set.

The sell-you mind-set has been around for about a hundred years:
"We are making as many products as we can for you, and we
intend to sell them to you as fast as possible, for the highest
possible price. Then we're out the door. So whatever you do,
don't complain or ask any questions. We know you're sort of
dumb, so it's easy to wow you because you can be talked into
anything."

A surprising number of salespeople are still doing business
with the sell-'em-fast and sell-'em-hard mind-set. Do
you treat your customers this way?

Danielle Kennedy presents sales and marketing seminars and
keynote addresses worldwide and is the author of seven sales books
as well as audio and video sales training programs. Check local
bookstores for her book, Seven Figure Selling (Berkley
Press). Write to her in care of Entrepreneur, 2392 Morse
Ave., Irvine, CA 92614.

First Things First

For a while, I did business with a small audio duplicating
company that treated me very poorly. Inevitably this bad treatment
trickled down to my customers. Are you aware of how much damage
doing business with people with the "me first" sell-you
mind-set can do?

Why would I, a so-called authority on customer service and
sales, put up with bad treatment? Part of the reason is that it can
be very costly and time-consuming to change suppliers. That makes
it easy to rationalize that mistakes won't happen again. But
they always do.

I'm getting smarter in my old age, however. I now do
business with people who treat folks the way I do and the way I
teach people to treat customers. I think many people are like I am:
We were naive once, but we are smarter now. We will no longer stand
by and be wowed by some insulting product peddler.

In the 21st century, the customer will continue to challenge the
salesperson: "You are going to have to get to know me before I
fork over a wad of money. Start listening to me, understand my
business, and never forget that you are not the only fish in the
sea. There is always someone smarter out there who is more than
willing to provide excellent service."

In this age of high technology, many of the personal touches of
doing business are being eliminated--the handwritten thank-you
note, the owner of a company calling a customer personally rather
than delegating the task to an assistant, the small-business owner
telling the truth about a mistake made and offering to rectify it.
Yet these so-called outdated ways of doing business are what
distinguish the servants of the people from the self-absorbed
order-takers.

If you and your team expect to survive now and in the 21st
century, do something every day to develop your service muscle in
the marketplace. The following two exercises will help you build
that muscle:

1. Develop business daily. To develop business means
to prospect. The more prospects you have in the pipeline, the more
peace of mind you'll have about your business. When you're
not worried about money or a lack of customers for your business,
you communicate much more objectively. You use phrases such as
"How can I serve you?" and "What do you need from my
company and me to help make your business more
profitable?" It's very difficult to speak that type
of service-oriented language with complete honesty when
you're worried about paying your bills or meeting payroll.

In the case of the poorly run duplicating company, I later found
out they were not delivering my orders on time because they needed
more people to ship the goods. Hiring more help would take away
from their profits. We were their only regular customer, so they
needed to make all the money they could from our orders--at the
expense of my customers and myself, of course.

When your agenda becomes more important than your customers'
needs, you look for ways to cut corners. Take the pressure off
yourself and the two or three prospects you've been clinging
to, and go out and find additional people who need what you have to
offer.

People are always amazed at the relationship that exists between
developing a service mind-set and tripling business development
efforts. But they go hand in hand. If solid prospects are
constantly flowing through your pipeline, it stands to reason that:
a) sales are being made, b) you feel less pressured, and c) your
kind and generous spirit comes to the forefront.

2. Pinpoint the buyer's motivation. It's so
much easier to approach customers with the service mind-set when
you know exactly why they want to buy what you have to offer. Once
they state the reason, discuss why they should purchase your
product rather than someone else's. Emphasize how it can serve
them. This type of presentation is different from pushing for the
sale or a signature on the contract.

The best part of working with a servant rather than a mere
salesperson is the after-sale results. My new duplicator makes me
look like the saint of all servants with my customers. My business
has tripled since he came on board. Plus, I no longer spend hours
on the phone arguing with people who do not care about my needs.
Nor do I have to explain myself and my incompetence to those who
put their trust in me. Life is good when we serve and work with
those who can help us serve better.